V.II Progress – What did I get myself into?!

Well, what a project this has been and what a mess! However, it is trucking along and I am able to fly once again, without a UFC though. I apparently ripped the monitor ribbon… whoops. I am waiting on a new one from China. I also broke the L/R DDIs because I was in a rush, luckily I narrowed it down to a broken HDMI connector that I soldered and repaired.

I have lots of toggle switch panels to build. None based on a real plane; they’re more or less just a canvas for any plane. Though, there are 2-3 that I absolutely need to build to make the hornet more enjoyable… I’m forced to use a mouse again mid-flight and that is just terrible, gross. All of the little open areas/squares/rectangles will have a panel cover for toggle switches. Not all will be in use but they’re there to allow expansion. The current switch panels I use are going to be scrapped and re-purposed for this effort.

The top wood braces (where the canopy would close onto) need a really, really good sanding, hence why they’re not painted yet. I have an aluminum glare shield ordered that’ll fit right on top of the main front console to hide all the wires. The painted sides of my old pit just need to be screwed into the new pit; something I’m waiting to do until the very end.

The ejection seat uses VRPits.com’s plans. They’re okay, but need a lot of work (and paint) that’ll be a whole other project though; making a realistic looking ACES II seat. I only have a small modification to make it sit closer to the stick in the meantime that should not take very long.

Overall, my plans have fit pretty perfectly together, which was surprising given how much more complicated these are. There have been no measurement issues. However, something I did notice is that the recessed areas between the birch plywood and MDF need to be opened up a bit. I’m not sure if it’s a material thing or not, both are 1/2″ in thickness, but my usual size of 0.52″ does not work between MDF/Birch. To counter this I made the gaps 0.54″ which appears to be a perfect fit.

Our back room is in utter chaos… wife is being very patient – ha.

Building up the sides.fit check – Old pit in the backgroundGetting some paint!She’s getting thereBefore I ruined my UFC 😦Hello Ejection Seat!What a mess….